This quarterly article supplements information presented in the publication, Retail Trade, Australia (cat.no.8501.0). It presents information about Net proceeds received from licensed gambling activities (hereafter called Gambling) undertaken by businesses in the Pubs, taverns and bars and Clubs (hospitality) industries. These industries are called 'Hotels and licensed clubs' in Retail Trade, Australia.

Gambling includes:

commission from TAB and Keno transactions

net takings from Bingo

net revenue received from poker machines and other electronic gaming machines.

For further background about the Gambling series, please refer to the feature article in the December 2002 issue of Retail Trade, Australia.

The gambling article will be released on the ABS Web Site once a quarter about a week after the release of the March, June, September and December issues of Retail Trade, Australia.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY

FINDINGS

It can be seen from Table 1, that for each quarter, the rate of quarterly growth can vary between the Gambling, Hotels and licensed clubs and Total retail series. Over the period from June quarter 2003 to June quarter 2005, the Total retail series grew by 11.2%, Hotels and licensed clubs grew by 11.6% and Gambling grew by 21.3%.

1. GAMBLING IN RETAIL TRADE, AUSTRALIA, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

Gambling

Hotels and licensed clubs

Total Retail

Net proceeds

Percentage change

Turnover

Percentage change

Turnover

Percentage change

Quarter

$m

%

$m

%

$m

%

2003

June

1 556.8

0.8

4 145.2

1.6

45 717.4

2.3

September

1 548.1

-0.6

4 186.4

1.0

46 892.7

2.6

December

1 566.3

1.2

4 325.1

3.3

48 069.9

2.5

2004

March

1 569.2

0.2

4 329.0

0.1

49 025.6

2.0

June

1 611.2

2.7

4 365.5

0.8

49 388.2

0.7

September

1 621.9

0.7

4 317.2

-1.1

50 154.3

1.6

December

1 693.4

4.4

4 467.0

3.5

50 141.4

0.0

2005

March

1 787.5

5.6

4 450.8

-0.4

50 133.9

0.0

June

1 888.7

5.7

4 626.5

3.9

50 827.3

1.4

Graph 2 compares the growth rates of Gambling, Total retail and Total retail adjusted to exclude gambling (although other turnover for Hotels and licensed clubs is included). This shows that Total retail and Total retail excluding gambling generally grow at a similar rate. This reflects the low contribution of gambling to Total retail indicated in Table 3.

2. PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN QUARTERLY TURNOVER, Seasonally Adjusted

Table 3 shows that gambling remained a relatively stable proportion of both turnover for Hotels and licensed clubs and Total retail up to December 2004. Over the March and June quarters 2005, there has been a small increase in gambling as a percentage of Total Retail turnover and of Hotels and licensed clubs.

3. GAMBLING AS A PROPORTION OF HOTELS AND LICENSED CLUBS AND TOTAL RETAIL, AUSTRALIA, Seasonally Adjusted

Hotels and licensed clubs

Total retail

Quarter

%

%

2003

June

37.6

3.4

September

37.0

3.3

December

36.2

3.3

2004

March

36.2

3.2

June

36.9

3.3

September

37.6

3.2

December

37.9

3.4

2005

March

40.2

3.6

June

40.8

3.7

From Graph 4 it can be seen that in June quarter 2005, gambling as a proportion of state turnover is highest in New South Wales and Queensland and lowest in Western Australia and Tasmania.

4. CONTRIBUTION OF GAMBLING TO TOTAL TURNOVER, Seasonally Adjusted - June Quarter 2005

This needs to be considered in the context of the varying state restrictions on gaming machines. Table 5 shows that gambling as a proportion of state turnover for the period June 2003 to June 2005 has been reasonably consistent although there has been some volatility through the quarters.

5. CONTRIBUTION OF GAMBLING TO TOTAL TURNOVER, BY STATE, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

New South Wales

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia

Western Australia

Tasmania

Northern Territory

Australian Capital Territory

Quarter

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

2003

June

6.6

1.3

2.6

3.4

0.0

0.6

1.4

3.1

September

6.0

1.3

2.9

3.3

0.0

0.5

1.4

2.9

December

6.2

1.3

2.6

3.5

0.0

0.4

1.3

2.8

2004

March

6.1

1.3

2.5

3.3

0.0

0.5

1.4

2.9

June

6.3

1.3

2.6

3.4

0.0

0.4

1.1

2.8

September

6.3

1.2

2.3

3.1

0.0

0.4

1.1

2.9

December

6.8

1.5

2.3

2.9

0.0

0.5

1.0

2.6

2005

March

7.0

1.5

2.5

2.9

0.0

0.4

0.6

2.6

June

7.2

1.8

3.2

2.9

0.0

0.5

1.0

2.8

SAMPLING ERRORS

Standard errors for the level estimate for Australia (original data) are shown below. The standard error associated with the seasonally adjusted series is approximately the same as for the original estimates.

6. STANDARD ERRORS

Estimate

Standard error

Relative Standard error

Data series

$m

$m

%

Net proceeds from gambling

June quarter 2005

1 874.2

65.4

3.5

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information about these and related statistics, contact Jeremy Walker on (02) 6252 5451.

RELATED INFORMATION

The ABS produces a more comprehensive range of data on gambling via its service industries program. Detailed surveys of the Pubs, taverns and bars industry, Clubs industry and Casino industry are usually conducted every three years.

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